The Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act of 2025 establishes a dedicated trust fund financed by a corporate tax increase to improve water infrastructure, mandate affordability and equity reporting, and expand job training and assistance for underserved communities.
Bonnie Watson Coleman
Representative
NJ-12
The Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act of 2025 establishes a dedicated federal Trust Fund, financed by an increase in the corporate tax rate, to support water infrastructure and affordability programs nationwide. The bill mandates a comprehensive EPA report analyzing water affordability, civil rights compliance, and public participation in water planning. It also significantly increases funding for household water well systems and revises state revolving loan fund rules to expand eligible projects, including lead line replacement and PFAS contamination cleanup. Finally, the Act creates new job training grants for the water sector and enhances drinking water assistance for colonias.
Water Bill Hikes Corporate Tax to 24.5% to Fund $35 Billion Water Infrastructure Trust Fund
The new Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act of 2025 is the federal government’s attempt to fix America’s crumbling water systems, and it comes with a massive new funding mechanism. The bill establishes a dedicated federal savings account—the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Trust Fund—to funnel up to $35 billion annually into water projects. The catch? That money is coming directly from a corporate tax hike, bumping the corporate income tax rate from 21% to 24.5% starting in 2025 (SEC. 2).
The Corporate Tax Hike That Pays for Pipes
This is a major funding shift. Instead of relying on annual appropriations battles in Congress, this bill creates a direct, mandatory funding stream for water infrastructure, similar to how the Highway Trust Fund works. Corporations will feel the pinch, but the money is immediately earmarked for critical projects: 42% goes to state Clean Water revolving funds and another 42% goes to Safe Drinking Water funds. For the average person, this means a much higher likelihood that your local water utility will actually have the cash to replace that aging main or deal with that nasty contamination issue without having to raise your monthly bill exponentially.
Your Water Bill, Shutoffs, and Civil Rights
One of the most important parts of this bill isn’t about pipes, it’s about paperwork. The EPA is now required to conduct a massive, one-year study into water affordability, service shutoffs, and civil rights violations by water providers (SEC. 3). They have to track how often service is cut off for unpaid bills—especially for households with kids, seniors, or the chronically ill—and whether those shutoffs disproportionately affect people based on race or income. If you’ve ever worried about losing water because of a high bill, this study aims to shine a serious light on those practices and recommend solutions. It’s a direct attempt to link federal funding with equity and fairness in service delivery.
When the State Can Force a Sale
This bill gives state governments some serious new muscle when dealing with water systems. Specifically, it loosens the rules for the state revolving loan funds (SRFs) that finance local water projects. Now, states can use SRF money to purchase a privately owned treatment works or community water system, even if the seller doesn't want to sell (SEC. 5, SEC. 6). While this is framed as a way to fix struggling private systems, it grants states the power of eminent domain in all but name when it comes to acquiring water assets. If you own a small private utility, or even if your town relies on one, this provision introduces a new layer of uncertainty about ownership.
Getting the Lead Out—For Free
For homeowners, there’s a massive potential benefit tucked into the Safe Drinking Water fund changes. The bill adds a specific provision allowing public water systems to receive grants to replace lead service lines, whether they are on public or private property. Crucially, the property owner won't have to pay anything for this replacement (SEC. 6). If you live in an older home and worry about lead exposure, this provision means your city could potentially replace your entire lead line connection at zero cost to you. Furthermore, homeowners with private wells contaminated by PFAS chemicals can now get grants to buy and install filtration systems.
Training the Next Generation of Water Workers
Recognizing that all this new infrastructure needs people to run it, the bill sets aside 0.5% of the Trust Fund for a new competitive job training grant program run by the Department of Labor (SEC. 2, SEC. 9). These grants are specifically designed to train workers for jobs in the drinking water and wastewater industries. The law mandates that at least half of this money must prioritize training low-income people in high-poverty areas, making a direct link between infrastructure investment and workforce development for disadvantaged communities. On the construction side, the bill requires states to ensure that projects funded by the SRFs allow and, “as much as they possibly can,” use Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), which are often favored by unions (SEC. 8).